Article: Patti Krueger, Family Advocate, Featured on Reason.com

Lenore Skenazy recently published an article on Reason.com about a the wrongful allegation against Patricia Krueger and her family that left her separated from her children for 467 days. The article discusses how the Family Justice Resource Center played a key role in ensuring the Kruegers were safely reunited.

Skenazy writes, "...Krueger was also pregnant with their third son at the time. DCFS took him away four hours after she gave birth, according to Krueger. The family spent 467 days apart. It took an incredible amount of time and money to piece together the evidence that they were not guilty of abuse. In this, they were helped by the Family Justice Resource Center, an Illinois nonprofit founded by Michelle Weidner—a mom who had gone through a similar nightmare ten years earlier. The center helps "families facing wrongful allegations of abuse and neglect, with an emphasis on medically-based allegations,'"

"They were an answer to our prayers," says Krueger.

Lenore continues with details about the case, sharing, "With the help of FJRC, the Kruegers found an attorney in this field, and a well-respected pediatrician to review Wyatt's files. This doctor found that Wyatt's illness was not imagined or parent-induced. She also said that genetic testing showing Wyatt had Xia-Gibbs syndrome, a rare disease that causes airway issues. The CAP had shrugged off this possibility."

The article goes on to detail the complications Patti faced due to her past. "Meanwhile, Krueger, a recovering addict, underwent weekly drug tests, even though her OB-GYN wrote a letter saying she was fine. She also undertook a psychiatric evaluation administered by a state-approved psychologist (but paid for by the Kruegers), which found her to be of sound mind and not inclined to abuse a child. That was a turning point, she told the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law:

After a year of being accused of having Munchausen by Proxy, after a year of being accused of being mentally ill, you start to ask yourself, am I as crazy as they think I am? The testing took three days and that was my biggest turning of relief, that I was not going to let these guys make me doubt myself.

During all this, Krueger and her husband were allowed to visit with their children every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., "with someone sitting with us," says Krueger. "We weren't even allowed to take them to the bathroom." The Kruegers were also not allowed to call their kids."'

Read the full article on Reason.com